Staying at home to kick off their 2023 football season, the Huskies battled it out in a non-conference game against the North Cedar Knights on Aug. 25. 

With North Cedar ending last year on a five-game losing streak and Highland going winless last year both teams were hoping to start this new season off on a strong note. 

Unfortunately for the Huskies, it was the Knights who claimed this week one victory, 38-6. 

Despite the loss Highland football head coach Cory Quail can already tell this year’s team has improved from last year. 

“We’re a better football team this year. 36 to 6 is not a good feeling on the scoreboard, not something we like seeing, but we saw some great opportunities,” Quail said. “We had some huge plays on offense that we just couldn’t finish, and that’s the big thing. It was a tight game there for a little bit and then just got away from us, just a few mistakes.”

The first quarter saw Highland trail 6-0 after the Knights scored a rushing touchdown, but the Huskies responded with a rushing TD of their own to tie the game at 6-6 with 50 seconds left in the quarter. 

In what ended up being the only score of the game for the Huskies the rushing TD came from junior Colten Sypherd. Sypherd ended his night with 18 yards rushing on three carries and 45 kickoff return yards on five attempts. 

About ten seconds into the second quarter North Cedar scored a TD to break the tie and converted on a two-point attempt and took a 14-6 lead. 

The Huskies were not able to respond this time, turning over the ball on downs, leading to the Knights scoring another TD to take a 14-point lead. 

North Cedar gained possession of the ball again after forcing a fumble, but they did not have the ball for long.

In what was a quarterback-on-quarterback crime Highland’s starting QB, junior Sage Hartley-Norman, intercepted a pass thrown by North Cedar’s starting QB, sophomore Teagan Weber. This INT rejuvenated the Huskies, and they immediately went to work on offense. 

In one of their most explosive plays of the night Hartley-Norman connected with junior Ayden Havel for a 39 yard catch and run to put the Huskies in a good scoring position. Hartley-Norman ended the night completing 8 of 17 passes for 111 yards. 

With under two minutes left in the second quarter Highland was on the verge of scoring again but an INT thrown by Hartley-Norman in the end zone extinguished the promising drive. 

After halftime the Highland defense came up big again by securing another turnover, an INT by Havel. Havel, on offense, ended his night leading the Huskies with 80 receiving yards on four catches. 

Despite the good field position the Huskies had after the turnover, multiple penalties made it difficult for Highland to reach a first down and their drive ended after they turned over the ball with an INT.

“In the first game that happens sometimes,” Quail said of the penalties Highland had on offense in the game. “We’ll learn from it. We’ll fix it. It’s not the reason we lost this game. We saw some things that were big that we can capitalize on and hopefully take it next week and learn from.”

Capitalizing on the turnover the Knights scored another rushing TD to give themselves a commanding 26-6 lead.

On the ensuing kickoff the ball was caught by Highland senior Luke Guseman and he provided some fireworks. Guseman, nearly scoring a TD, returned the ball 73 yards. He ended his night with 11 rushing yards on 11 carries and 23 receiving yards on three receptions. 

“Luke Guseman showed some senior leadership tonight. He had some wonderful big plays there,” Quail said. 

Following up Guseman’s huge kickoff return Hartley-Norman rushed into the endzone for a TD, but a holding call negated the score. Not being able to put points on the board after the penalty Highland’s drive ended with another INT in the endzone. 

Highland was able to get the ball right back after freshman Jose Ramirez came up with another INT for the Huskies. Not being able to take full advantage of the turnover, Highland proceeded to turn the ball over on downs.

In the final quarter North Cedar proceeded to score a TD, intercept the ball, score another TD, and intercept the ball again to effectively end the game. 

“Overall, as a team for 70, 75% of the game tonight, I thought we did a wonderful job. It’s just that 25%,” Quail said. “We just couldn’t finish, so we got to fix that, bring it into next week and try to be 1-0 next week.”

As a collective unit Highland’s defense produced three turnovers and their leading tackler was junior Logan McFarland. McFarland ended up with 7.5 tackles, with four being solo tackles and two being tackles for loss. 

Up next for Highland (0-1) will be going on the road to face off against the Danville Bears (0-1) on September 1. 

GAME SUMMARY

NORTH CEDAR 38, HIGHLAND 6

North Cedar  6 14 6 12  --  38

Highland   6  0  0  0    --  6